


Never Get Out of This World Alive

by used_songs



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: M/M, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-11
Updated: 2017-07-11
Packaged: 2018-11-30 19:56:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11470593
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/used_songs/pseuds/used_songs
Summary: For Science Bros Week 2017. The prompt was: pending.





	Never Get Out of This World Alive

Bruce came back, but even to himself he had to admit it was like he wasn’t really there. He puttered in the lab, read a few books, watched some documentaries on Netflix, and talked with FRIDAY, gun shy after Ultron but still curious about the evolution of Tony’s AIs. After a month of awkward silences, of Bruce leaving the room whenever the news touched on the status of the Accords or Steve and the others and when conversations between Jim and Tony turned to politics, one morning he finally steeled himself and approached Tony in the kitchen and said, “OK, I have some questions about what happened while I was gone. Can I ask you?”

Tony placed his cup very carefully on the table and turned to look at him. “What, Bruce? What do you want to know? Is it about how I could bring myself to work with Ross?”

“No.” Bruce sat next to him, reining in his temper and keeping his voice calm.

Tony kept pushing. “How I could oppose Steve? How I could think I was right after Ultron? How -.”

A little impatiently, Bruce said, “Tony. Just let me talk.”

Tony gestured for him to continue, his lips pulled tight.

“How … why did you try to work with Maximoff? You even tried to protect her. After what she did to me. To all of us.” Bruce ran a hand through his hair.

Tony slowly moved his cup along the table with one hand. “I didn’t feel I had a choice. The stakes are too big. There’s a lot in play right now about enhanced people. The things that people in government would like to do to us, to the mutants, to the inhumans … they aren’t good. And then there’s the threat we face now that everyone out there knows Earth is on the map. I had to set it aside.” He grimaced. “My feelings, your feelings, they don’t matter compared to that.”

“But you should’ve known you couldn’t trust her!” Bruce raised his voice, feeling an echoing anger inside.

Tony’s voice was bitter. “It turns out I couldn’t trust anyone.”

Bruce could feel his pulse pounding in his temples. “Do you hear yourself? You just equated that witch and her manipulations with the rest of us, with me. She played with my worst fear, Tony! She turned the Hulk loose on innocent people! On you!” He clenched a fist on the table top, so tightly that his knuckles hurt.

“You think you’re the only one who had to face something he couldn’t handle?” Tony demanded, his body language closed off as he looked down at the table.

“I wouldn’t know, Tony. You don’t talk to me.”

“You were gone, and I don’t have a direct line to Asgard.”

Bruce forced his tone to become even again. “I’m back now.”

Tony shrugged. “When I’m out there, playing politics, all I do is talk. Maybe I just want some peace here at home.”

“Bullshit. You talk to Rhodes. You talk to FRIDAY. You call Pepper once a week. You even talk to Stephen Strange and the king of Wakanda. But now you don’t want to talk to me.”

Tony laughed. “It’s not like you’re really here,” he needled. “You’ve been hiding, too.” He leaned back from the table.

“What are you waiting for?” Bruce asked brusquely, intending to prevent Tony from rising and fleeing the conversation.

“What?” Tony stared at him blankly.

“Waiting. You’re waiting for something; you’re so tense you’re practically a statue. What are you waiting for?” He purposefully took a deep breath, willing calm in and anger out.

Tony very deliberately let his shoulders slump. He stared at Bruce wordlessly. Bruce repeated, “Talk to me, Tony. I can help, whatever it is.”

“I’m so tired. I didn’t realize how tiring all of this would be,” Tony said softly. “But I think I know now how  Howard  … how my dad used to feel.” He looked at Bruce and added dismissively, “But you don’t want to know about that. It’s my own fault, right?”

“What are you waiting for?” Bruce pushed. “What are we waiting for?”

“The end of the world,” Tony said drily. “Is that dramatic enough?”

Bruce laughed despite himself and surprised a sardonic smile out of Tony. “That’s pretty dramatic,” he admitted.

“Did I ever tell you about the time I was dying and I ate a box of donuts sitting inside a donut?” Tony said.

“Did I ever tell you about the time I leveled a warehouse and borrowed a motorcycle and some pants?” Bruce countered. “Don’t deflect.”

“I’m not … I was tired then, too. I had isolated myself. And all I was waiting for then was for the palladium to kill me. Now … I’m waiting for aliens to kill all of you and leave the Earth an apocalyptic ruin.” He scrubbed his hands over his face and then laid them flat on the table, palms down.  The room was silent for a moment.

“I’m sorry,” Bruce said, regret rising in his throat. “I shouldn’t have said that. I’m sorry. Is that what Wanda showed you?” he asked, sliding a hand over and carefully placing it over Tony’s when the other man gave a brief, tight nod. “You know, and I know this is going to sound weird coming from me, but … we don’t have to think worst case scenario here,” he said cautiously. “We have time, and I know you’ve been working on bringing everyone back together. You don’t have to face this alone.”

Tony shook his head and pulled his hand back, away from Bruce’s touch but still resting on the table.

“Tony, she showed us our fears in order to hurt us. She didn’t show you a predetermined future.”

“How do you know?” The uncertainty in Tony’s voice was painful to hear.

“Because I refuse to believe that’s how it’s going to end.” Bruce cautiously moved closer, rested two fingers on the back of Tony’s wrist. The other man didn’t reply, but he turned his hand over, palm up, under Bruce’s touch. In response, Bruce carefully slid his fingers down to the center of Tony’s palm, where a repulsor would rest. Tony watched their hands, mesmerized.

“Tony, I’m not leaving again. No matter what happens, whether Wanda and the others come back, no matter what,” he said softly, his body turned toward Tony. Tony’s fingers closed loosely around his.

“What about … what about Nat?”

“That’s over,” Bruce replied. “It was over before it began. What about Pepper?”

“She ended it while you were gone.” Tony tightened his grip and turned to face Bruce.

“Then what are we waiting for?” Bruce asked simply.

Tony took a deep breath, staring directly at Bruce with wide eyes. “I can’t … I wouldn’t be able to deal with being left again, Bruce,” he said. “I’m … I’ve reached my limit. I am so tired.”

Bruce ran his hand up Tony’s arm and shoulder, cupping the back of his neck. “OK. OK. I won’t leave.” With his other hand he touched the side of Tony’s face. “I won’t leave. I won’t leave you. This has been a long time coming between us.”

“We don’t have to wait anymore?” Tony asked quietly, raising a hand to touch the back of Bruce’s, running long fingers over Bruce’s knuckles. In response, Bruce moved his hand back to bury his fingers in Tony’s hair, to curve around the back of his head and pull him forward for a kiss.


End file.
